Your future, our focus
In August, Erik Wehse expressed his belief that Northwest College’s men’s soccer team would make a deep postseason run in the fall.
On Tuesday, NWC’s sophomore goalkeeper was forced to admit he might have been one of only a few Trappers who shared that belief.
“When I looked at this team at the beginning of the year, I remember thinking ‘Whoa, we’re extremely talented,’” Wehse said. “But talent as individuals only takes you so far. That individual talent never came together as a team.
“And for whatever reason, at some point this season, I think our guys lost faith that we could get to the national tournament.”
Wehse’s disappointment came after NWC finished 7-7-2 on the season following a 1-0 loss to Trinidad State Junior College in the opening round of the Region IX Tournament on Saturday in Trinidad, Colo.
Wehse was in goal for the Trappers during what was his team’s third match against the Trojans this year. Saturday’s defeat was the closest in terms of scoring, as NWC had lost the first two matchups by a combined score of 9-4. But the end result was all that mattered to Wehse.
“We definitely played our best game against Trinidad, I think,” he said. “They scored on us with 30 minutes left in the game, and I’m still thinking we could pull out a win. But then there are five minutes left to go, and I knew it was over. And I was just thinking ‘Man, what if?’”
Trapper coach Rob Hill, who also coached the NWC women to a 4-9-1 campaign, said the NWC men had several opportunities to light up the scoreboard against Trinidad (16-1-1), but came up short. As has often been his summary of both his men’s and women’s teams this season, Hill added that the Trapper men lacked intensity for the entire 90 minutes of play.
“The game itself was a very slow game, and we never really got going in the first half,” Hill said. “We were playing in first gear, but even in first gear, we had three really, really good chances to take the lead. We just didn’t convert.”
NWC battled the Trojans to a tie by halftime, but the Trappers were unable to get anything going after the break.
“I thought we would step into overdrive in the second half, but unfortunately it was more of the same,” Hill said. “We never got into an electric pace on the field, and give a lot of credit to Trinidad. They’re a great team with great skill and great team spirit.”
Hill and Wehse both expressed frustration of missing out on the semifinal round of the Region IX Tournament, especially considering the fact that NWC is hosting the two semifinal matches in Powell. Instead of coaching in the semifinals, Hill will be tournament director starting Friday when Trinidad battles Utah State University Eastern at 10 a.m., followed by Otero Junior College versus Central Community College at 1 p.m.
“We had a lot of promise with our team, so it’s definitely disappointing,” Hill added. “We’re hosting the region tournament now and we’re not in it. You couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity and we didn’t take it. But, that’s kind of been the theme of our season.”
Now, with the season over, the Trappers’ sophomore class will look to the future. Wehse and fellow sophomore Sean McManamon are currently in line for a workout with Division I program University of California-Davis. Others will likely pursue soccer at the next level as well. Hill, meanwhile, will look to retain as many of his 16 freshmen as possible, while also beginning his recruiting process for the 2015 season.
“I’ve already started recruiting and making calls. It’s back to the grind of trying to create a winning team next year,” Hill said. “I hate to lose ... I can’t stand it. Two years of that now, and I’m going to come back next year hungrier.
“I really thought as a team we could take that next leap into nationals and we haven’t, and I’m partly responsible for that, so I’ve got to fix it.”